DEAR EDITOR

I completed my SCEP training last week. Now, given that the average age of an Irish farmer is between 58-59 years, (I would bet this is significantly older for suckler farmers) was there really a need for a module to teach us how to lift a calf, inject an animal, dose an animal and load an animal?

How do they think we managed up until now? Also I consider my animals quite docile, but the animals they used were quieter than a house cat! What an insult to all of us farmers.

In module five, Dr Siobhán Ring told us about calf weighing and how important it was for our star rating. She put the argument very well and was very clear in her explanation.

However on page 3 of the Irish Farmers Journal dated 9 November, it stated that only weights recorded by an ICBF technician will be included in the indexes.

So was there any point to the training at all? Does anyone really know what’s going on?

Next I tried my rare breed data upload for ACRES. The Department has a large database with all our information in it, so why did I have to calculate 60 different values for them, ie the number of animals under six months of age for each month of the year 2023; number of animals over six months and under 12 months of age for every month of the year until we got to over two years of age?

Remember that I had to go through all the animals bought and sold during 2023, and a calf born in January would change to the six-month category after July.

Next we had to scan all the cows’ blue card and calf cards and upload these into the application. Where is the common sense? It just shows how much is expected of the person in the wellingtons.